Outside my classroom, in the peace pervading the hallway after dismissal, students were chatting. As I heard them, a smile came unbidden; without even seeing the group, and only two weeks into the school year, I recognized several as “mine”: their voices alone were enough to identify them. There was Kirk, jaunty and confident; Eva, quiet and attentive; Imelda, cheerful and thoughtful. Each voice conjured up a face and a personality, and memories of many personal interactions.
Every human voice is unique, reflecting the uniqueness of the soul God has created for Himself. Just so was Jesus’ human voice unique, and while no clues allow us to reconstruct its sound, we will hear it again, when He comes in glory at the end of time.
Until then, we need to learn to hear it in the inwardness of our soul — in the silence of prayer but also in the interior illuminations and promptings He speaks throughout the course of a busy day.
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Many YouTube videos demonstrate sheep’s uncanny knowledge of their shepherd’s voice. The opening shots capture a flock quietly grazing. Visitors begin calling to the sheep, trying to induce them to move. No matter the words, the tone, or the volume, the flock stolidly ignores them. Then, a new voice — and miraculously, the creatures lift their heads and begin to move, all together.
At a GIVEN conference a few years ago, Nashville Dominican Sister Mary Madeline Todd shared a personal story from the time when, having founded her Sisters’ mission in Australia, she was reassigned to Rome for the following year. All she could hear in her head, despite the total groundlessness of the message, was, “You are being reassigned because you failed the Sisters. You were not good enough. You failed the Community.” After months of agony, she encountered a priest who told her gently but firmly, “That is not the voice of the Shepherd. Don’t listen. He would never speak that way.”
There are many voices that are not the Shepherd’s — voices of doubt, of jealousy, of complaining, of impurity. The Shepherd’s voice speaks encouragement, truth about our failings and hope in His mercy. It speaks of patience, kindness, perseverance.
By setting aside moments to pray and read the Scriptures, by purifying our minds through small acts of self-denial and virtue, we will learn to recognize the Shepherd’s voice and, many times daily, will be able to rejoice in it.
Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
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